Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Canada notched his first victory in a World Cup downhill on Friday, edging Michael Walchhofer of Austria by 0.31 seconds.
Osborne-Paradis covered the 3,035m Olympiabakken course in 1 minute, 47.09 seconds. His previous best downhill result was a second-placed finish at Lake Louise, Canada in 2007.
Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, the 2007 overall champion, was 0.37 seconds behind Osborne-Paradis in third place.
Last year Osborne-Paradis just missed the podium at Kvitfjell, finishing fourth and fifth on the course that former Swiss downhill great Bernhard Russi designed for the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics.
No other Canadian has won a downhill or a super-G at Kvitfjell.
The only Canadians who made the podium were Ed Podivinsky (downhill) in 1997 and Erik Guay (downhill) in 2007.
The race was delayed for several minutes after Patrik Jaerbyn — who started 23rd out of 63 racers — crashed on the lower part of the course at an estimated speed of 90kph. The Swede, at 39 the oldest skier on the World Cup circuit, escaped unhurt.
Walchhofer closed in on the downhill title by finishing runner-up. Two downhills remained in the season, one in Kvitfjell yesterday and one during the World Cup Finals at Are, Sweden.
“It was a great race for me,” Walchhofer said. “I’m very happy with my second place. It was very important to get 80 points.”
Bode Miller, the defending overall champion, won’t ski again this season and sat out the last two weekends in Europe.
The American, who had a second and a first place in two downhills at Kvitfjell last year, was virtually out of the running to repeat as overall champion.
■OFTERSCHWANG
AP, OFTERSCHWANG, GERMANY
Kathrin Zettel led an Austrian 1-2 finish in a women’s World Cup giant slalom on Friday, beating Elisabeth Goergl by 0.12 seconds.
With her fourth giant slalom victory of the season, Zettel remained the World Cup leader in the event and increased her lead over world championship bronze medalist Tanja Poutiainen of Finland, who finished third.
Zettel now has 41 points more than Poutiainen, with one giant slalom race left in the season.
Overall World Cup leader Lindsey Vonn of the US had a smooth run to finish eighth and leave nearest rival Maria Riesch of Germany further behind. Riesch was a distant 22nd.
Vonn is all but certain to clinch her second straight overall title. With five races remaining — and 500 points at stake — she leads Riesch by 414 points.
A slalom was scheduled yesterday during which Vonn could clinch the title. She won the downhill title for the second time last weekend.
Zettel won in a combined time of 2 minutes, 36.48 seconds, 0.12 seconds ahead of Goergl and 0.52 seconds ahead of Poutiainen. Goergl jumped up from fourth and Poutiainen gained two places.
Tina Maze of Slovenia, silver medalist at last month’s world championship who led after the first run, dropped to fourth.
Zettel overcame difficult conditions on Ofterschwang’s Horn course, racing both runs with few mistakes in steady snowfall for her sixth career victory.
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